#piscciss premann

[ohyeahben10]

Every day I wake up and Piscciss is still just a ball of water

[ID in alt text]

[whatudottu]

The Ben 10 floodgates are open and I’m back immediately for a rant, and this time about a planet versus it’s species.

This has been bottled up for who knows how long, but I’m absolutely venting about it because dang is it annoying.

A little context yeah? I’m talking about Piscciss Volann and their planet Piscciss (easy right?). So these Volann were introduced in the original series and are fish folk, having the ability to switch between tail and legs ‘H20: Just Add Water’ style (if I’m not talking to a vaguely specific audience with that one).

The problem? Piscciss is a planet made from 99% water.

Look, I’m not discrediting a water planet’s existence, hey we have gas planets in our very own solar system, this is hardly new. But not only do I doubt (but not completely disprove) that a planet like this can support the growth and development of a human sized fish creature, it would also be impossible for it to develop an evolutionary trait that the planet simply does not support. You can’t evolve for an environment you don’t live in.

Oh, but of those of you who know, you might say that the default of the Piscciss Volann is a pair of legs because Piscciss itself is an artificial planet. If that was the case, why do they dry out easily, why can’t they live on land without a water respirator? Even so, the purely water-based environment (save for its core that is really only a meteoroid) the Piscciss Volann, the species that takes the name of the planet, would have lost any legs they had if they had evolved to this planet.

So, here I am, trying to turn this science fantasy back into science fiction, even if it’s a stretch by default having a transforming fishtail. What I am trying instead is having super seasonal variation (I think it’s due to how far the planet tilts? Saw it in a series about alien biospheres) where the sun bares down heavily on the ocean surface which causes mass evaporation, and in winter, with the now exposed surface from the lowered sea level, massive rains sweep that planetside providing moisture and plant growth... before being flooded again. This may still be entirely fictitious (ooo pulling out a fancy word) but at least it tries to cope with the proposed alien concept.

I tried to run this by my space friend but he’s more a rocket man than a planet boy, so he didn’t have any solid answers. Not that there are many solid answers, I mean there’s microbiotics in Venus’ atmosphere, one of the least likely place for life to develop (by earth standards) and there it is, so what do I know.

Oh and Piscciss Premann, the crabs, were probably the least egregious thing about this planet because crab live in water and land and have leggy but didn’t even appear in that episode, an absolute scandal!

Anyways that was me, an alien nerd, ranting about something I probably don’t know. Maybe the next Ben 10 post won’t be a rant or turn into one like last time.

[whatudottu]

Actually, I have some thoughts on Piscciss Premann that I can talk about. These may be less cohesive than the other posts because they’re more snippets of headcanon rather than a focused prompt.

So you know how Hermit Crabs exchange shells when they get too big for them? Premann may not do this biologically (or mechanically given that a lot of them are cyborgs) but culturally. There’s a lot of inheritance traditions and on the odd occasion there has been property donated to otherwise strangers, especially if there’s no lineage to keep them.

To bring the focus closer in, I will refer to housing as a general piece of property, and also as a better comparison to the hermit crab comment. Homes of a Piscciss Premann are a little more grounded than those of the Piscciss Volann (but it’s not like i’ve got thoughts for them) and neighbourhoods may resemble coral reefs. Of course these aren’t white brick houses nor towering skyscrapers, but some reefs get to be as large as cities, perhaps even larger.

But cities of that size are unfortunately rather empty after the Piscciss-Pyros war/s. Premann are more used to breathing the atmosphere than Volanns, and are only the slightest bit more resistant to heat and fire in their natural armour, so they were the main frontline soldiers. I have no idea how the war happened nor how it’s executed, but a lot of Premann soldiers lost their lives. Those who survived aren’t who they used to be.

So, there’s a little deficiency in Premann civilisation, though people in need of a... ‘roof over their heads’ did have many homes donated to them, especially if the living families would be downgrading in the switch or there’s too much wasted space. Many veterans also had their homes donated, because some couldn’t bare to live on Piscciss anymore. Kraab is one such veteran, and so he always tries to ‘change his home’ by becoming a merc. What better way to constantly change than to get new jobs at every turn.

Premann have in recent times been thrust into the world of engineering and technology, whether they wanted to or not. Veterans typically have to learn themselves how to repair and diagnose their new bodies, but a lot of casual civilians are taught young, almost as if in preparation for when they too lose their bodies. Those that chose to actually get into the practice either close enough to submarine volcanos or skip the trouble and live on the surface, even leaving Piscciss again.

Metalworks don’t exactly have much of a market underwater.

So! A lot of the cities and neighbourhoods of Piscciss Premanns are rather empty, either leaving the planet to avoid another war or finding their talents better suited out the water. But there IS still a population of Premann still residing on Piscciss.

A while back, I reblogged a post about a trading town on a lake/river, sorta referencing that Piscciss could have something like that. Lo and behold, that idea has resurfaced (literally) and it’s essentially a boat city, mostly comprised of Premann! The city moves about freely and depends entirely on the roll of a dice, but typically it travels over and/or near resource hotspots.

There’s one major boat, akin to an aircraft carrier in appearance, and serves as the CBD of the city. It also acts as a moving spaceport for interplanetary traders, though landing would need to be confirmed by both the captain and the shuttle in question so that a location can be marked. There are other, smaller boats that travel alongside the carrier, and they’re more so extra storage space, for both market stalls and living spaces.

Premann run and maintain the ships, as well as live in them and run the stalls, but no Volann nor even the interplanetary visitor/immigrant have any administrative roles. This isn’t because of xenophobia (though in part it may play a role) but because Premann have exceptionally great sealegs. Volanns are either one or the other, swimming tail or walking legs, and interplanetary travellers probably only have the one, but Premann are the best at stabilising themselves, sometimes seen partially crawling on the walls if the tilt gets to much.

The Piscciss Premann that run the stalls carry on the inheritance tradition, because oftentimes they run their stalls for interplanetary travellers to get used to their business. The more tourists they get, the more they’re likely to get their businesses off planet, and their old stall and home can be donated to someone new.

Family can follow the same business if it suits them, but often time they make a new one, unique to them, using the home and stall as a kickoff point. Sometime a stall is donated to a new citizen, of those that decide to stay, and whatever business they run is their business. The boat city (perhaps their are more) are one of the few intergalactic interactions from Piscciss that are mutually beneficial and not inherently a plot for conquest.

Unless of course you mean the conquest of corporations.

But businesses that come from Piscciss oftentimes garner a good reputation, due to the popularity system of the boat city.

Okay it seemed I had a lot of thoughts, and they managed to be cohesive.

Welp.

[ohyeahben10]

I like to imagine there's "small" (as in island sized) pieces of land inside piscciss, and some species that aren't really fishy (Piscciss-Premann) originated in one of these islands underwater. It would not explain why Pisccis-volann need legs, as they are faster while swimming, but it explain the crab at least

Man, I wish we could just say this. Unfortunately, we see all of Piscciss.

Nothing there but the center. But for what’s it’s worth it’s still a cool headcanon.